Most Difficult to Conquer

[Macilrille]

Iberia as I get CTD every 2.2- 2.5 battles there...

[Fierro]

Steppe by far.. not only are the distances between cities great but facing HA armies can be ridiculous.
Everything else is pretty much a cakewalk provided you have decent units and or numbers.
Of course the south of Arabia can be pretty annoying with it being pretty isolated.

[A Very Super Market]

Steppes, if you are aren't a nomad faction, the levant, if you are.

[The Celtic Viking]

It's easily the steppes. Great distances between settlements, pesky HA armies to contend with and the income from the settlements is very poor. Add it all up and the cost-benefit ratio of conquering that area is just horrendous.

[Tristuskhan]

Steppes, if you are aren't a nomad faction, the levant, if you are.

Oh my!!
AVSM; you sumed up perfectly my feelings. The Levant is a bore when you're Pahlavi. And that's what i am.

[A Very Super Market]

Well, any area that starts out well-developed is a pain. But Italy and North Africa are far,far away....

Germania and Central Europe is a pain as well. The Sweboz always end up being the Maroon Death, or rather, Maroon Slogging match through giant forests. I don't think Central Europe needs to be explained.

[Irishmafia2020]

The steppe... chasing horse archers across the prairie with heavy infantry is a nightmare. It will take you 2-3 years to get there, and every other turn you have to fight fresh HA armies that attack you. If you have a FM with the army the campaign shuts down for the winter and summer, and after you conquer the god forsaken barbarian village at the end of the campaign, you have to leave 1/2 of your army (shot to pieces by now) to garrison the craphole since there is no local recruitment anyway. Of course the town will rebel back to the barbarians anyway, and even if it doesn't, two more HA armies will melt out of the steppe to lay siege to your new town and massacre your army...

Seriously, the steppe is ridiculously difficult to conquer if you are a civilized faction. I would rather face any other part of the map. Everything is spread out too far, and unless you have multiple armies attacking simultaneously in different areas of the steppe, you will be unable to conquer one of the HA factions. The worst part is that recruitment is virtually impossible out there, so once you conquer a town, you have to leave your army out there for six or seven years until the locals come to appreciate the benefits of civilization. The distance to the capital penalty is absurd as well... If you don't cheat (toggle_fow) then you will never find the most obscure settlements on the prairie using only a spy. Really, if you have ever faced this nightmare, then you probably voted "steppe" in the poll. I would face the armies of central Europe over what the steppe produces any day. Even if you lose a battle there, you can at least retrain your troops and try again within a year.

[J.R.M]

Oh Yeah, the steppe it´s a serious challenge for me (i like a hell lot those infantry based factions).
Huge distances between settlements and those anoying HA´s, seriously a great challenge, sorry for my english.

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

Wow, I wouldn't even consider messing around in the steppe as a "civilised" faction!

To me, conquering Iran seems to be the greatest horror (although I haven't tried on Germania or Britannia yet).

• reinforcements need awfully long, since the Mediterranean Sea ends at Antiocheia
• by the time you get there, cities are often already very big and unruly
• you won't have any opportunity to replenish your ranks with troops fitting your style, while the enemy keeps decimating you
• by the time you finally reach the other end of Iran, Baktria, you will be already decimated while resistance will be stronger

Conquering Iran is like traversing a valley, towards the end it gets harder and harder IMHO.

[Mikhail Mengsk]

The steppe... chasing horse archers across the prairie with heavy infantry is a nightmare. It will take you 2-3 years to get there, and every other turn you have to fight fresh HA armies that attack you. If you have a FM with the army the campaign shuts down for the winter and summer, and after you conquer the god forsaken barbarian village at the end of the campaign, you have to leave 1/2 of your army (shot to pieces by now) to garrison the craphole since there is no local recruitment anyway. Of course the town will rebel back to the barbarians anyway, and even if it doesn't, two more HA armies will melt out of the steppe to lay siege to your new town and massacre your army...

Seriously, the steppe is ridiculously difficult to conquer if you are a civilized faction. I would rather face any other part of the map. Everything is spread out too far, and unless you have multiple armies attacking simultaneously in different areas of the steppe, you will be unable to conquer one of the HA factions. The worst part is that recruitment is virtually impossible out there, so once you conquer a town, you have to leave your army out there for six or seven years until the locals come to appreciate the benefits of civilization. The distance to the capital penalty is absurd as well... If you don't cheat (toggle_fow) then you will never find the most obscure settlements on the prairie using only a spy. Really, if you have ever faced this nightmare, then you probably voted "steppe" in the poll. I would face the armies of central Europe over what the steppe produces any day. Even if you lose a battle there, you can at least retrain your troops and try again within a year.

I agree, but i find Germany tough too because of heavy forests.

Fighting in forests is a true nightmare for everyone.

[Fluvius Camillus]

Eastern europa, and by this I mean the ridiculous full stacks, not the Skythian part...

~Fluvius

[ARCHIPPOS]

I would like to hear from people that have actualy invaded the Sakas or the Sauros... how did the AI behave??? Playing as Baktria against the Sakas my current strategy is a never ending war of attrition on the borderline with my troops occasionaly raiding Chach (which is back into stone age after 20 years of war)...

I'm very hesitant of actually invading the Saka mainland though...not only are the distances HUGE making logistics a friggin' nightmare ,you're also exposed to highly mobile horse archer troops that can take the time to reduce your army to shrieds through successive raids turn after turn as you push into their land ... (at least in theory)

i have this plan of waiting till the reforms kick in and then raising a mighty cavalry army of Baktrioi hippotoxotai ,dahae riders and kataphraktoi FM and blitz my way into the Saka capital capturing their cities one by one on the road... i only hope that the Sauromatae will manage to contain them to the north East until then...

i see a lot of people here keep repeating "the Saba,the Saba!!!" ... Undoubtedly the desert waistlands add a lot of frustration on conquering them but at least their armies are not cavalry oriented or made of horse archers, right??? Also their homeland is exposed to sea... capturing any port of the Persian gulf or the Suez area and building a fleet would enable by-passing all the Saba deserts, right???

[Xurr]

The steppe... chasing horse archers across the prairie with heavy infantry is a nightmare. It will take you 2-3 years to get there, and every other turn you have to fight fresh HA armies that attack you. If you have a FM with the army the campaign shuts down for the winter and summer, and after you conquer the god forsaken barbarian village at the end of the campaign, you have to leave 1/2 of your army (shot to pieces by now) to garrison the craphole since there is no local recruitment anyway. Of course the town will rebel back to the barbarians anyway, and even if it doesn't, two more HA armies will melt out of the steppe to lay siege to your new town and massacre your army...

Seriously, the steppe is ridiculously difficult to conquer if you are a civilized faction. I would rather face any other part of the map. Everything is spread out too far, and unless you have multiple armies attacking simultaneously in different areas of the steppe, you will be unable to conquer one of the HA factions. The worst part is that recruitment is virtually impossible out there, so once you conquer a town, you have to leave your army out there for six or seven years until the locals come to appreciate the benefits of civilization. The distance to the capital penalty is absurd as well... If you don't cheat (toggle_fow) then you will never find the most obscure settlements on the prairie using only a spy. Really, if you have ever faced this nightmare, then you probably voted "steppe" in the poll. I would face the armies of central Europe over what the steppe produces any day. Even if you lose a battle there, you can at least retrain your troops and try again within a year.

No wonder you don't don't like fighting in the steppe, you are doing it wrong. Never ever go to the steppe with infantry other than archers and the occasional spearmen . Personally I capture Kallatis or Olbia first, set up a type IV and recruit horse archers to send out into the steppe. Fight nomads with nomads and you'll never worry about the steppe again.

[kekailoa]

Conquering Iberia is a complete nightmare. Not only does the game CTD every couple of turns, but the Luso's pump out stack after stack of cheap, plentiful, powerful, AP weapon-wielding troops that attack you in the mountains, forests, river crossings and cities. The terrain is tough, reinforcing your troops is next to impossible if you're the Romani (which I am right now) and even the militia troops take a bite out of the best of your men. It wouldn't be so bad if the Luso's didn't resist so fiercely, but I guess I asked for it when I became the Romani...

[ARCHIPPOS]

playing as Baktra it could be possible to eliminate the Pahlava early on (sth i have been tempted to do) but taking out the Saka is a race of patience methinks... i don't even dream of invading them before conquering India (=$$$) ... that way you can raise an extra cavalry fullstack (lots of HA+ kataphraktoi that can take out the Saka FM tanks) and fight fire with fire

[Irishmafia2020]

No wonder you don't don't like fighting in the steppe, you are doing it wrong. Never ever go to the steppe with infantry other than archers and the occasional spearmen . Personally I capture Kallatis or Olbia first, set up a type IV and recruit horse archers to send out into the steppe. Fight nomads with nomads and you'll never worry about the steppe again.

Yes, that is fine for the western part of the map, but as Baktria you start out in a position that requires you to fight the Saka and AS simultaneously from a position of weakness. You need heavy infantry against the AS, and you cannot afford multiple armies in the first part of the game. If you send cavalry against the Saka, theirs is simply better. They have armoured horse archers, and you do not. If you are playing out west, by the time you get to the steppe you can afford to hire HA's of your own, because you have an empire by that point. As Baktria, you must attack the Saka with the same army you use against the AS. You also have to hold your possessions against constant attacks, which requires maintaining garrison forces in the north. It is in that role that archer spearmen prove their true value. I may face the steppe in the wrong manner, but the Baktrian campaign requires the player to face that territory early in order for the player to survive. If I was playing in the western part of the map, I wouldn't even bother with the steppe, and i would not recognize its inherent difficulty. To be fair, as the Baktrian campaign progresses (60 years or so), it becomes possible to field sufficient heavy cavalry to finish the nomads off, although i have not done that.